Find the Best Hair Color for Your Skin Tone

1. Determine Your Skin Tone: Deep

 People with deep skin tones like Kerry Washington will usually have dark brown eyes.
 Your skin looks healthiest in brightly hued clothing, like royal purple or green.  The darker your skin tone is, the easier you can pull off more intense colors on your lips. Plums, reds and deep burgundies look great with your skin. The veins on your wrist have a purple tint. You can pull off both silver and gold jewelery.

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2. Determine Your Skin Tone: Warm

 Warm skin tones like Jennifer Lopez's are usually accompanied by green, hazel, amber, or warm brown eyes. Your skin looks healthiest in off-white or beige shirts. Coral, terracotta red, and chocolate brown lipsticks are more flattering than pinks or blue-based reds. The veins on your wrist have a greenish tint. Gold jewelry looks best on you.

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3. Determine Your Skin Tone: Cool

 People with cool skin tones like Amy Adams usually have eyes that are blue, gray, greenish-blue with gray flecks, or a deep brown that borders on black. Your skin looks healthiest in pure white shirts. Pink or blue-based red lipsticks are more flattering than corals, terracotta reds, and chocolate browns. The veins on your wrist have a blue tint. Silver jewelry looks best on you.

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4. Find Your Shade: Fair Skin

"The lighter your skin tone, the paler you can go with your hair," says celebrity colorist Rita Hazan, who works with Jessica Simpson. Warm tones like Michelle Williams' look best against hues of butterscotch, strawberry blond, and honey. These shades play up the peachiness of your complexion and cast a soft glow on your face. If you have a cool skin tone like January Jones, look for blue-based colors like platinum, flaxen, and champagne blond to flatter your ivory complexion.

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5. Maintain Your Shade: Fair Skin

Most blond tones start to fade two weeks after they've been applied, says celebrity colorist Marie Robinson, who works with Scarlett Johansson. Use Pantene Pro-V Blonde Expressions Color-Enhancing Shampoo ($6; drugstore.com) to keep the hue as vibrant as possible.

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6. Find Your Shade: Medium Skin

Not only can this versatile complexion carry a wide spectrum of shades, but it also provides a beautiful backdrop for high-contrast highlights. People with cool skin like Cameron Diaz should stick to ashy tones like sand, wheat blond, or walnut brown to counteract any hint of ruddiness in your complexion. Tawny blond, golden caramel, or copper pick up the buttery tones and prevent sallowness in warm skin like Hilary Duff's.

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7. Maintain Your Shade: Medium Skin

The lighter you go, the more prone your hair is to brassiness, says New York City colorist Sharon Dorram. Lather up with Phytocitrus Restructuring Shampoo ($24; ulta.com), made with grapefruit extract to keep your tone intact. Also invest in a shower-head filter to remove mineral buildup, which can alter your color.

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8. Find Your Shade: Olive Skin

This sultry skin type can stand up tot he intensity of a deep, rich brown, or an earthy color. "Add some strategically placed highlights in a subtle gold or honey if you want to create depth," suggests Robinson. To balance greenish undertones in cool complexions like Alex Chung's, try toasty hues like chestnut brown, auburn, and cinnamon. Ebony brown, mocha, and violet-based colors will enhance the natural warmth of tones like Kim Kardashian's.

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9. Maintain Your Shade: Olive Skin

Any amount of styling damage can make brown hair look dry and drab, so seal in plenty of moisture with a weekly color-preserving product like Rene Furterer Okara Protect Radiance Enhancing Conditioner ($39; beauty.com), recommends San Diego colorist Jet Rhys. To make your darker tone seem even more multidimensional, apply a gloss-enhancing serum to damp hair before blasting with a blow-dryer.

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10. Find Your Shade: Dark Skin

The whole idea here is to create contrast between your hair and your complexion-whether that means going lighter or darker, explains Dorram. "If your hair color is too close to your skin tone, your features will disappear." Deep, dark tones of espresso and inky black look striking next to blue-based complexions like Alex Wek's. If you have warm skin like Viola Davis, opt for maple brown, mahogany, toffee, and other rich, warm colors to bring out the apricot undertones in your skin.

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Determine Your Skin Tone: Deep

 People with deep skin tones like Kerry Washington will usually have dark brown eyes.
 Your skin looks healthiest in brightly hued clothing, like royal purple or green.  The darker your skin tone is, the easier you can pull off more intense colors on your lips. Plums, reds and deep burgundies look great with your skin. The veins on your wrist have a purple tint. You can pull off both silver and gold jewelery.